Looking to better understand the winning ways of this growing team, OS AI sat down with Karthik Balasubramanian, President/CEO; Felix Martin, Vice President, BD & Capture; Bhomik Harmani, Chief Strategy Officer; and Todd Sodeman, Vice President, Operations at Karthik Consulting to discuss the real opportunity behind bluebirds, how investing in itself and its partners drives wins, and why this team is suddenly flying above the radar.
Growth of the Underdog
It doesn’t take a stretch, looking at this team’s extensive footprint across DOD and multiple DHS agencies, to understand they are in it to win. Access to multiple vehicles, a broad set of capabilities, a deep understanding of capture, and delivery at large scale, means Karthik Consulting has multiple opportunity decisions and discussions on the go at any given time.
Noting that for many years they have flown under the radar, keeping success on the down low, preferring to be the dark horse amongst competitors, the company’s continued growth and evolution as it nears the $30M size makes it difficult to continue to hide.
“As we have grown, we have developed a focus on aiming for smaller opportunities where we can excel. These efforts tend to be higher margin, but they also allow us to build our bench of skilled personnel. We try to stay focused and pursue those things that we think we are best qualified to succeed at and that we enjoy doing.”
Positive CPARS, access to vehicles, and a growing reputation amongst clients has fueled this team’s steady growth. “We have a strong group of leaders, the right thought leaders in place to bond with clients, that can also help direct the junior or intermediate team members, can guide them to make sure that they more than adequately support the customer mission.”
Client Focused Cybersecurity and Cloud Software Development
Growing from a foundation of software development supporting defense business systems, Karthik Consulting has always focused on providing the customer with what they need, rather than what they think they want. “One of our early contracts for modernization consolidated five applications into one, and in doing so, conveyed to the client that there was a better, more effective way to move forward.”
The result drew attention and turned into an entirely new system, and the only system for that client that received its own ATO. “As a new system there were multiple audits and cyber security levels to be passed. That helped us become better auditors, better engineers, better security engineers and better positioned to support similar efforts moving forward.”
Noting that everything starts off with what you like to do, what you excel at, the team pivoted to a focus on two key areas: cloud software development and cybersecurity
Mastering the Art of Catching Bluebirds
“There is a saying in GovCon that you don’t want to be chasing bluebirds. While it’s true, we have mastered the art of catching bluebirds– the client we have never worked for who may not know who we are – yet. Taking our success with other customers, learning along the way, each potential opportunity is considered and yes, we will go after the bluebirds if we know we can do the work.”
One important factor that helps this team win with so-called bluebirds – they bid according to what it will take them to do the work. “There was one opportunity that was set for a year-long effort. We looked at it and said, no, that will only take us seven months, could not even imagine stretching it to a year – so that was how we bid. We were able to deliver successfully for the client and at a much better price.”
Investing in Itself and Taking the Risk
For the aforementioned effort, the payout would not happen until the end of the project. This meant committing to the work, investing in itself and being prepared to take the financial risk should something go wrong. “We are willing to invest, in prototypes, in innovation, in training, to ensure we are ready to deliver what was needed. We have a great team, from the capture, operations, and delivery sides, who all work to ensure we make sound decisions and then can back up what we do.”
That attitude has also meant a sometimes-unique approach to opportunity responses. “There was an RFI that came out without page limits so instead of the typical 5-page document many companies would throw out, we went into detail over 40 pages about how we would solve the issue, our approach, and two days later we received a call to discuss the proposal. It was a customer we did not know but they saw clearly that we knew what they wanted and that we had the capability to get it done.”
In the end, the team was able to deliver more than the client asked for; they delivered what the client needed.
Take the Debrief and Grow
Win or lose, Karthik Consulting relies on the debrief as a way to understand what resonated, what needs to be improved. “You don’t want to keep drinking your own Kool-aid, especially if it’s bad.”
As a growing small business, with access to multiple contracts, Karthik Consulting deliberately avoids the shotgun effect. While a company may take shots at anything and everything because they are armed, this team understands this makes you a jack of all trades but a master of none. “Through debriefs we’re learning. Even if we didn’t win the opportunity, we’ve learned something, and it allows us to continue to move forward on the chosen path.”
That level of focus also helps the team attract top talent, people who are flexible and looking for growth in their career path. “We bring them in at certain levels, allow them to go get additional certifications and training, and then we can move them around on the different projects. What we really want is technical skills and the flexibility to go apply that skill for any customer.”
Investing in Talent and Partners
Investing in its talented team, keeping them engaged, means giving people opportunities to do new work, to avoid the trap of doing the same work, day after day. This is driven in part by Karthik Consulting’s growth in modernization and transformation work, which evolves new avenues for people to grow. “The people we put on contracts, they bond together as a team and they learn from each other. Then they branch out formulating, continuing to educate and grow and learn from each other and in the end, bring new solutions to our customer base.”
Just as it invests in its people, Karthik Consulting is focused on investing in partners, in relationships that are beyond transactional, that are based in trust and will move beyond the single project. “As a small business we may not have the pockets or the bench that a large will have but when it comes to oral presentations, to technical knowledge, we can stand up against anyone. True partners recognize that and know that we bring the performance and capabilities to the table, not just the vehicle access they need.”
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Karthik Consulting participated in Sev1Tech’s Small Business Summit in 2019. It has been a pleasure working with Karthik and his team as we have grown our partnership and mutual trust. Together we continue to make a difference in supporting our customers’ missions. BZ Karthik!